Behave Yourselves! Even If You Are Already Behaved... Answering Rumors

1 Peter 2:12

Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.

So we have just come off a verse where Peter tells his readers to abstain from the desires of the flesh.  The reason is developed here.  They are to “conduct themselves honorably”.  There is no declaration that they have been acting dishonorably, but rather it is being implied, they are being accused of acting in a ‘dishonorable’ way. 

Why is there is a need to speak of issues of conduct among the Gentiles?  This is a personal letter that Peter is circulating to these disciples.  He speaks to the issue because it exists among the Christian communities that he helped to establish. 

This seems to be a fascinating moment in the early development of the church.  Beginning in the synagogue, it will eventually be pushed out.  From a new Jewish sect, it will become the dominant faith of the empire.  That will come through Gentiles joining, not Jews.  There just aren’t enough Jews.

It seems that the Jews are pushing out the followers of Jesus and bad mouthing them among the dominant Gentile culture so that they will have no place to go but into trouble.  Peter's words here are an attempt to counteract those attacks, and we will see that developed in this verse.